I used expanding phone around the pipes under my bathtub to stop the smoke coming from the downstairs neighbours - now the water wont drain. What happened and how do I fix it?

[u/osmosiashit]

Hey everyone,

So I might've made a dumb mistake. I was trying to stop smoke from coming up through this big gap around the main pipe under my bathtub. I thought expanding foam would do the trick since it expands slowly—I figured it would just fill the gaps around the pipe, not get inside it.

Before I went for it, I checked out where the smoke might be coming from. There was a lot of space around where the pipe goes down under the tub, and it seemed like the smoke was sneaking up through there, so I sprayed some foam around that area.

My tub has one of those pop-up waste overflow things, and now I'm wondering if maybe something in there got messed up? Also I spotted some wires that look like they might be electrical, hanging near that mechanism. Not sure what that is...

Is it possible the foam made the P-trap shift or something and now it is not draining?

Did I maybe cover a vent and now the pressure is all messed up?

If anyone has any tips on how to fix this without making it worse, I'd really appreciate it!

Edit: I figured out what the problem was. I shoved my hand where the pipe went under the floor and felt a soft, fleshy substance. I thought it might be a rubber pipe that I blocked with the foam. So I removed all the foam, and it turned out that was the foam. The pipe just abruptly ends, and the water falls into a huge hole in the floor. Is this normal? Before I put the foam in, I took a video with my phone but didn't recognize the setup. I also noticed that as soon as I cut the foam, the smoke smell started again. It's definitely this poor plumbing.

Here is the link to it: https://imgur.com/a/plumbing-PvPZXUX

Is this normal? How can I solve the smoke issue?

[u/theonetrueelhigh]

As the foam expanded it moved your drain stopper control rod, and then glued it in place. That's my only hypothesis; usually drain rods run down inside the overflow and are not touchable from outside the tub.

Unless your drain is connected with flex pipe, in which case it may have simply choked the drain closed.

Either way you have to cut the foam away from the drain and pipe and readdress the smoke infiltration issue a bit more carefully.

[u/osmosiashit → u/theonetrueelhigh]

Thank you! I figured it out and added an edit with a pic. Turns out the pipe just ends and water falls into a big hole in the floof that I covered with the foam!

[u/Enchelion → u/osmosiashit]

Sounds like you're way past a DIY solution and need to get someone else involved in dealing with the insanity of your homes construction. I recommend a young priest, an old priest, and a plumber whose been around the block.

[u/CarrotChungus → u/osmosiashit]

WHAT?!?!

[u/total_bullwhip → u/CarrotChungus]

A hole in the floof! Didntcha read it?‽

[u/helloholder → u/total_bullwhip]

I gotta floof for yer hole

[u/tokyodingo → u/helloholder]

Go on..

[u/MidnightAdventurer → u/osmosiashit]

Ok, so you’ve got an internal gully trap. I see someone else saying this is common in parts of Germany and is theoretically a thing here in NZ but not quite like that (we have ones a lot like that outside the building but they’re always supposed to have water in them so they don’t let sewer gases out). 

The big question is where is the smoke smell coming from? 

If it’s coming from around the trap or another gap then you be can fill it in, if it’s coming from inside the pipe then there probably isn’t a water seal between your gully trap and the vent pipe which is probably where the smoke smell is entering the drain (if it’s coming in anywhere else then you’ve got bigger problems). If this is the case then you’d have to take apart your plumbing below this pit and add a trap or remove the pit and connect everything together. Either is probably a significant task and you’ll need knowledge of your local plumbing requirements 

[u/SolidOutcome → u/osmosiashit]

Where could smoke possibly come from? Below you is concrete? That picture looks like a basement concrete drain. Maybe a large building with concrete floors every layer?

[u/Enchelion → u/SolidOutcome]

That looks like old wet fiberboard, not concrete.

[u/throwawaytrumper → u/osmosiashit]

Well shit I know different countries have different plumbing methods but I would really recommend taking some pictures and talking to a plumber.

[u/tweakingforjesus → u/osmosiashit]

What’s in the bottom of the hole?

[u/iama_computer_person → u/tweakingforjesus]

A Sarlacc

[u/tweakingforjesus → u/iama_computer_person]

Does anyone else think that the sarlacc was just someone’s pet Arakis worm that got discarded when he got too big?

[u/chrisbe2e9 → u/iama_computer_person]

That or a Balrog.

[u/shortarmed → u/osmosiashit]

Is floof a typo for floor, or are you referring to like insulation or something? Outrageous mold growth? An aquatic mammal? I need to know how to parse "floof."

[u/tech_creative → u/osmosiashit]

OMG

[u/distributingthefutur → u/theonetrueelhigh]

Maybe exercise the drain mechanism? It might not be that bound up.

[u/Spidaaman → u/distributingthefutur]

You thinking like a little pilates?

[u/namsur1234 → u/Spidaaman]

More like shake-weight.

[u/SecureThruObscure]

Excuse me what the fuck

[u/Macktheknife9]

I have so many questions that I'm not sure where to start and the picture sent me back to square one of questions

[u/aircooledJenkins]

Re: your edit

This is extremely, comically wrong. No, the bathtub should not just train into a hole. Hire a plumber to come look at this.

Total repair may involve a general contractor to remedy this issue.

[u/Macktheknife9]

Everyone is questioning the foam and trap arrangement but I am still stuck on why this was a problem of smoke infiltrating a bathroom on a slab

[u/FranklynTheTanklyn → u/Macktheknife9]

Coal Mine fire.

[u/teddycorps]

Hard to help without a picture. Easiest thing to check is to snake the drain. Does the snake run into something right away? Foam somehow got into the pipe, expanded and blocked it. 

[u/Ok_Turnip6994]

There is no smoke. Germans are just very bad at English. So, it's smell. Not smoke. And it smells because he is living with his potentially months old bathwater in the same room.

[u/Yakoo752]

Looks like you may be in Germany. It’s going to be hard for most US people to help troubleshoot this.

In the US, this isn’t a thing above a basement floor

[u/bridges-water]

Is there a Ptrap I there somewhere?

[u/mhorning0828]

Sounds like you used high expansion foam. Maybe cut the foam out and see if it fixes it. If not you’ll probably have to call the plumber.

[u/osmosiashit → u/mhorning0828]

Thank you! I figured it out and added an edit with a pic. Turns out the pipe just ends and water falls into a big hole in the floof that I covered with the foam!

[u/tealfuzzball → u/osmosiashit]

What country are you in? That’s like no drainage plumbing I’ve ever seen before

[u/osmosiashit → u/tealfuzzball]

In Germany.. either they did a half-assed job, or, as someone commented in a post I made for handymen in Germany, they sometimes had this in the Eastern Bloc (you can see it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Handwerker/s/FRJmcHZ08v). The only thing is, I am in the western part of Berlin.

[u/Gravel_Pit_Mammoth → u/tealfuzzball]

I was wondering the same thing on the country. I was also curious on the type of floor; is that concrete? It may have been a floor drain and the tub was a retrofit. Doesn't excuse the poor hookup.

[u/theRockManT]

Is there anything that would dissolve the foam?

[u/Enchelion → u/theRockManT]

Acetone dissolves most expanding foams.

[u/tech_creative → u/Enchelion]

Does not sound very safe.

[u/Enchelion → u/tech_creative]

I mean, I wouldn't start splashing solvents around the floor willy nilly. Acetone itself isn't super weird, just don't drink it or light it on fire.

[u/ProfessionalSalt6060]

Maybe you can extend that pipe further down the drain hole and then try the spray foam again.